To Have And To Hold
by Snowy Fox 11
Summary: Sarah Losel has never had an easy life. Things only get worse when she is picked for the 97th annual Hunger Games. During her journey she finds love and friendship while dealing with enemies. What will happen in the Hunger Games? Will Sarah be able to win the games and return home to her loving sister Lil?
1. A Turn Of Events

My sister, Lil ties up the back of the band of my turquoise dress and spins me around to check if it looks good. She smiles and gives me thumbs up. I don't smile back. It's not that I'm angry with her, it's just that I'm scared. It's the day of the reaping where we find out who is picked to compete in the 97th annual Hunger Games. People aged twelve to eighteen have to put their names in a jar, a certain amount of times depending on their age. Twelve year olds have to put theirs in two times and eighteen year olds have to put them in thirty six times. I have to put my name in eight times, more than the usual amount of thirteen year olds. My older sister and I made a deal with the Capitol that we would put our names in triple the amount of times than other people our age so that they would give us money each month. They only give us twenty five dollars each and we hardly manage. It'll be better when my sister teaches me how to hunt. She promised that she would start the day after the reaping.

Mum isn't here to help us. She was pregnant at the age of seventeen. Dad had left her when he heard she was pregnant. The next reaping was close to my birth. Mum was picked. No one volunteered for her. She gave birth the night of the reaping. One of her friends offered to take care of Lil and I. Mum was one of the first tributes to die. After a while Lil and I were older and our guardian, Mum's friend had children of her own to tend to. We looked out for each other and lived under the horrible conditions. By the age of thirteen Lil started hunting for about an hour a day. I was seven years old then and stayed home. We had a cow and a chicken. My duty while she was hunting was to milk the cow, give the animal's food and water and check to see if the chicken had laid any eggs. When Lil got home we would go and sell the milk and eggs. After about one year the cow got sick and died. We no longer had any milk to sell. We still have the chicken though. As we got older Lil hunted more often and I was left to look after myself and try to find some work in my district. Everyone said I was too young to work but I kept begging for work. At the age of eleven, a sweet old lady needed help with her farm. I helped her for two hours a day. I had to milk the cows, feed the animals and sell the products to the local store.

Now that Lil is nineteen she doesn't have her name in the jar, but I do. I'm scared I'll be picked. I have the same chance as fifteen year olds of getting picked. Over the last few years fifteen year olds have been picked. I feel tears welling up in my eyes. Lil comes over and gives me a hug.

"It's going to be alright," she says comfortingly. "You won't get picked. They'll probably pick an older person."

We look outside and see people heading to the town square, which is where the reaping is being held. Lil grabs my hand and we follow the crowd. I line up so that the peacekeepers can get the prick of blood to check that I'm here. It hurts a lot. I then go to my age group and wait.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome," says Danielle Bells, "To the reaping of the ninety seventh annual Hunger Games. Here is a little video brought all the way from the Capitol."

Everyone watches as it shows little bits from the previous Games. When it finishes Danielle continues. "Let's get on with it. Now, ladies first." She puts her hand in the big jar for the girls. I swallow hard as she picks one out and unfolds it. "This is a surprise," she says. "Sarah Losel."

Lil was wrong. She was wrong. I'm the tribute. I'm Sarah Losel. Everyone looks around for the chosen tribute. The few people I know look at me. I make my way out of the crowd slowly.

"No!" Lil yells, "She's my sister! You can't do this!"

I look back. Lil's running towards me. I watch as some peacekeepers pull her back. I've stopped and now I've got peacekeepers beside me literally dragging me along. I stand next to Danielle as she picks a boy. "Nicholas Gout." she announces. This can't be happening. Nicholas is fourteen and so handsome. He is the boy I've had a crush on for ages. He walks up, his face expressionless and stands on the other side of Danielle. I shake hands with Nicholas. I look at his face and it suddenly looks horrified.


	2. Goodbye

The crowd touches their three middle fingers to their lips and raise their right hands. It is our peace sign. The peacekeepers take us to a private room. There we will say farewell to those we love. My first visitor is Lil. She runs in and holds me tight.

"You have to win," she whispers. "I know you can."

She pulls away and I shake my head. Suddenly the tears just come out.

"You said I wouldn't be picked," I say.

"I didn't want you to freak out," she replies. Her voice is wobbly. "I'm so sorry. If I could compete, I would volunteer for you."

The peacekeepers start to take her away.

"No!" I yell.

"I believe in you," she says. Her eyes are teary and her voice is shaky.

She is taken out of the room and the doors are closed. I sit down on the wooden chair and bury my face in my hands. I'm surprised when the door opens and my old guardian comes in. She runs up to me and wraps her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry," she says, "for everything. I should've stayed with you. I shouldn't of left you and Lil. I should've been there for you. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," I whisper.

She wishes me luck before the peacekeepers take her away. The doors close. I sit back down. I didn't expect her to come and say goodbye. Now I wait for the peacekeepers to take me to the train. They have to wait for Nicholas to finish his farewells first.


	3. True Love

After about what seems like half an hour the peacekeepers come and take me to the train. Nicholas is already on the train sitting down with Danielle. He offers me a seat next to him. I sit down beside him. Danielle goes to get changed into some casual clothes.

"You look nice," Nicholas says.

"Thanks Nicholas," I reply

"Call me Nick," he says. He smiles at me. He's so handsome. I can't believe I'm sitting next to him. Suddenly I feel sick in the stomach.

"You alright?" he asks.

"At some stage we're going to have to kill each other."

"I refuse to kill you."

"What if it meant risking your life," I reply. "You'd want to kill me then."

"I'd never want to kill you."

"Oh really,"

"No!" he yells, "You wouldn't get it! You don't understand how I feel! Well, let me spell it out for you. I love you."

He quickly turns away. I can feel my cheeks going red. Just then Danielle comes in. I excuse myself and find my room. Finally I find it and I lie on the bed. What do I do? I don't know how to act around him now. I think for a while and then return. Nicks not there.

"He went to his room," Danielle says as if she has read my mind. "First bedroom."

I want to talk to Nick but I back out of it. Instead I sit on the opposite side of Danielle.

"When do we find out who the other tributes are?" I ask.

"Tonight there will be footage of the reaping in the different districts," Danielle replies. "Not only will we see who has been picked, but how they have reacted as well." There's a pause.

"Would you like to tell me what happened with you and Nicholas." I'm silent. "You have to work it out before the Games begin. And I'm not announcing the very important thing until this is all sorted out."

I look up at her. What's this very important thing?

"Is it good or bad," I ask.

"I'm not telling you yet," Danielle replies.

I get up and make my way to Nick's room. I stand silently outside for a while before knocking on the door. The door slowly opens to reveal Nick's face. He quickly starts to close the door but I put my foot out and stop it.

"I'm sorry," I say. "I was surprised, that's all."

He allows me to come in. I take a seat on his bed. He sits down next to me.

"I had to tell you," he says. His voice is shaky, as if he's nervous. "I couldn't hold it in."

"Danielle has a special announcement for us," I say. "The only problem is we have to sort this out first."

"So how do you feel?" he asks me.

"The same way," I just manage to get the words out. It doesn't really make sense but I think he understands because he grabs my hand.

"Whatever happens, I refuse to kill you," he says looking into my eyes.

"Same here," I reply. "It wouldn't be right."

"Does Danielle know?" he asks. "About us?"

I shake my head.

"Come on," he says making his way to the door. He has let go of my hand and is now walking into the main room of the train. I follow him.


	4. A Question More

"Is everything sorted out?" Danielle asks. We nod.

"Dale!" Danielle yells. A man that looks like he's in his early twenties walks into the main room and sits down next to Danielle.

"Hi, I'm Dale, your trainer," he says, introducing himself. "I won the Hunger Games five years ago when I was eighteen. I'm here to help you through the processes before the Games begin and to give you tips on how to win."

He pauses before asking us how we feel about it all. Nick speaks up first.

"Well, it isn't a very pleasant feeling," he says. "We're probably much worse than the other tributes."

"We'll probably only have these few days to live," I mutter.

Everyone looks at me.

"That's not true," Dale says. "Not only do you have to kill, but you have to be good at survival. You two seem smart enough. You should be fine in that aspect. The only area I'm worried about at the moment is how you will defend yourself and kill others."

"You two should pair up together and look out for each other," adds Danielle. "This year there will be an announcement at the opening ceremony tonight. As your trainers we have the opportunity to tell you or keep it a secret until it is revealed publicly tonight. We have decided to tell you beforehand. This year the game makers are allowing two victors from the same district."

"So does that mean if we stick together, Nick and me, we could win?" I ask.

"It strengthens your chances of winning," Dale replies. "To be able to do this you will both have to agree on whether or not you will defend each other and help each other through tough times. I will leave that decision up to you and you can discuss it after. Now I have a few questions for you both privately. They're sort of like a little test on your survival skills."

I leave the room with Danielle. We go to the second main room and close the door.

"Dale will ask the questions as he's your trainer," Danielle says. "I want to know what's going on."

I'm silent, I can't possibly tell Danielle. She wouldn't understand. Maybe she would. Maybe she can help me.

"I'm also here to talk to you about any problems you may be having," she says. "Like a counsellor."

"Nick just confessed something before." I say. The words hardly come out. It feels so weird talking about it, probably because I've never talked to anyone about any of my problems. Suddenly it all comes out at once.

"Isn't that good?" she asks.

I nod in agreement and then say, "I just don't know how to act."

"Act like yourself, do what you want," is all Danielle tells me. "So, how do you feel about killing people?"

"I don't want to kill people," I reply. "If it came down to killing someone to save my life, yeah, I guess I would try and kill them. I don't really have much chance of living though. The other tributes are probably much stronger and smarter than me."

"You've got Nick though," Danielle reminds me.

"He can't protect me all the time. It wouldn't be fair. I don't expect him to risk his life for me. And what would happen if he's badly injured and someone comes to kill us? I'll have to defend him and

I'll barely stand a chance. I would be putting both his and my life in danger."

"Okay," Danielle says. "There is a chance of both you and Nick winning. Just try your best and I'm sure that you'll work out some strategies to win. You need to know about how the next couple of days are going to go before we move onto anything else. This afternoon we will arrive at the Capitol and you will have a professional team of stylists to dress you up for the opening ceremony tonight. That will take a couple of hours. After the ceremony you will be escorted to your floor of the tributes tower. Because we are district twelve we have the top floor. We will then watch the reaping's before getting some rest for tomorrow. We will wake you at about eight in the morning but feel free to wake up earlier. You will then have a full day of training. Tomorrow night will be free to discuss how to survive in the arena. The next day you will still have training in the morning and then the personal training sessions in the afternoon. Then you will be prepared for the final ceremony where they hold interviews. You will have to try and answer the questions as thoroughly as possible. The next morning you will be taken to the arena and in the afternoon the Hunger Games will start."

My stomach lurches as I start calculating.

"I've only got about three days to live," I whisper.

"You've got your whole life to live if you win," Danielle reassures me, but it doesn't work.

"That's the thing," I say. "I won't win."

The room goes silent. Then Danielle whispers in my ear "I know you can."

Just then Nick comes in.

"Dale wants to see you," he says flatly. The conversation they had must of been pretty bad if he seems so, different, not himself.

I walk out into the room Dale's in and sit down. The door automatically shuts behind me.

"I have a few questions for you," he says. "These are survival and fighting questions, to see how I think you will cope in the games. If you had no food, what would you do?"

I swallow hard and then tell him my answer. "I would make sure that I was as far away as I could be from another tribute that would kill me. Then if I had a weapon that could be used for hunting I would attempt to use it. If I had no weapon I would try and make a net or a trap from resources in the arena."

"If you were in a forest arena, what would you do to try and find out what was going on elsewhere?"

"I don't know. Listen for any signs of fighting, or even footsteps coming my way. Wait, I could just climb a tree and hide myself while I'm up there. Then I could get a pretty good view of what's going on."

"Would you make allies with anyone?"

"I'd probably make allies with Nick. If there are some nice people in training I might possibly make allies with them. I wouldn't make allies with the Careers, you know, districts one, two and four. For all I know they could be pulling me into a trap."

"If someone came running up to you with a knife, what would you do?"

"I would try and stay calm and find something to block it. Then I would run and try and block the knife if they threw it. If I had a weapon, when the knife was out of their hands I'd try and kill them with the weapon."

"Good, from what you've told me you'll be pretty good at surviving out there," Dale says. "I doubt you'll be one of the first tributes gone. You might even win. We all know you're capable."

This comment makes me feel a bit better. Suddenly I hear shouting. I wonder what's going on. Danielle and Nick come and join us. Nick looks as clueless as I am but Danielle and Dale seem to know what's going on. We look outside and then realize. We've arrived at the Capitol. We go over to the window and start waving.


	5. Arrival

"Good way to get sponsors," Dale says. I don't know what he's talking about but sponsors sounds good so we keep waving. Suddenly the train stops. Danielle and Dale follow us out of the door where we are escorted by peacekeepers to our room. We sit down and talk for a bit about sponsors.

"Sponsors are a very important part of the Games," Dale explains. "We get people to pitch in money for important things to give to you in the arena. These things could make the difference between life and death. I'll choose the gifts when I feel you need them. To get sponsors you need to make people like you. The opening ceremony is a good opportunity for that. You may start getting ready." He nods to two people behind us and we turn around to see our stylists.

I'm taken to a room and the stylists start waxing my legs and my eyebrows. I'm washed in warm water and then my hair is brushed and then transformed into these little curls which one of the stylists, Ellie, says are called ringlets. She then pins half of my hair up leaving half dangling over my shoulders. It looks different even though it's still my usual colour, blonde.

They then start on my nails which take an hour and then my makeup which takes another hour. Danielle was right when she told me that it would take a couple of hours.

I'm then transferred from my purple dressing gown into a beautiful orange and yellow dress that flows well from my waist down to my knees. The dress relates to our district theme which is coal mining and I'm astounded by the beauty that my stylist has put into it. Throughout the previous year's our districts costumes haven't been very stunning, now they have become amazing. I spin around and watch the colours glow.

"It's beautiful," I say.

"Come on," Ellie says. "We're running late."

I follow her back to the main room where Nick is. We catch an elevator down to the bottom floor under all of the tributes floors where the ceremony is being held. I see that Nick has a matching outfit to mine. Black suit with a yellow shirt underneath and an orange tie. His blonde hair glows and for the first time I mention how handsome he looks. He helps me up onto our chariot. He doesn't let my hand go.

"We have to make an impression," he reminds me. He then thanks me for my compliment and tells me I look beautiful too.

Soon the chariots are taking off onto the path in the centre. Ours is last to take off and we wave to random people. We put our linked hands up in the air and people applaud. Soon all of the chariots stop in a circle.

The president tells us how delighted he is to have us as tributes. Then he makes the special announcement that Nick and I already know. Soon it's all over, after a massive speech from the president. We go back to our floor, have showers and get changed and watch the reaping's before getting some rest.


	6. Unsuccessful Or Successful

I see Nick above me. He's shaking me. I must be lying down. He has a deep cut on his forehead and a knife in his hand. Another figure appears above me. Nick looks up at the figure before getting stabbed by a sharp sword.

I hear myself screaming and then suddenly someone's whispering to me. My eyes open and I see Danielle and Nick kneeling beside my bed. Sweat is dripping from me and my eyes are wide with fear.

"Nightmare?" Danielle asks.

I nod. "We were in the arena," I whisper. "Nick was there and then someone killed him."

He looks down at the floor. "It's going to be okay," he says, looking at me again. They leave the room and leave me to get ready. A couple of minutes later I come into the main room. I sit down next to

Nick and eat the lovely breakfast that Danielle has prepared for me.

"Now that you're both here, I'll explain what I want you to do in training," Dale says. "Try everything, if you have extra time work on certain things that you don't do as well in." He looks at his watch and then starts walking to the training centre. We've got our training clothes on and are following him to the elevator. We leave the tribute building and go into another building close by which must be the training building. Dale leaves us and wishes us luck. I look at the clock. It's nine o'clock in the morning. Pretty late. I would have expected training to start at seven. I usually wake up at six because I have so much to do so it's very different.

Soon a lady comes to talk to all the tributes. "I'm Tia, your trainer," she says. "I will help you today and tomorrow so that you are ready when the Games begin. Firstly, you will have half an hour on each activity and we will rotate clockwise until you have finished all the activities."

She assigns activities to each district. Nick and I are starting at the climbing activity. There are lots of climbing nets and trees to practice our climbing skills. There are even large boulders. I start on the climbing net while Nick attempts to climb the boulders. I see him struggle a bit but he's pretty quick. He stumbles a few times and I see the determination in his eyes. It makes me realize that I have to get a move on and try my best. I reach up for some high ropes on the climbing net. I grab them and start climbing. Higher and higher. Out of the corner of my eye I see some of the other tributes staring at me. I don't know why. Climbing isn't that hard. The rope starts to turn. I either stay on the same side and face the roof or go onto the other side of the net and am looking at the ground. I decide to go on the side where I'll be under the net. If I go on top it might be a bit scarier. Either way is scary but I can't bail out now. I crawl until I'm nearly upside down. I don't know what to do now. People are still staring at me. I try to ignore them and immediately think of a way to get down. I let my feet lose grip of the net above me. Suddenly I get dizzy as my legs pull my body around halfway so that I'm now the right way up. I crawl down to the bottom of the net. I'm amazed. I didn't think I could do that. Nick has gotten to the top of the boulders and is looking at me in awe. I have no idea how long he's been watching. Everyone's eyes are still fixed on me. I wish they would get back to what they are doing. Nick climbs down the boulders and approaches me.

"That was amazing," he says.

"It was only a net," I reply. "I bet there won't be any in the arena."

"Try something else then," he says putting his hand on my shoulder. If you can do the net, you can probably do the boulders, tree and cliff,"

"Cliff?" I say, stunned. "There's a cliff?"

Nick nods and loses his grip on my shoulder. He goes over to the net and I make my way to the tree. I try and find a thick piece of bark. The branches are too high up for me to get so this is my next best option. I find a piece of bark sticking out on the other side of the tree. I jump up and grip it. I put my other hand around the tree as if I'm hugging it and try and get a grip on the bottom of the tree with my feet. This is definitely harder. The piece of bark isn't as supportive as I thought. I quickly lunge for the first tree branch and only just get a grip on it. I move one of my feet and rest it on the piece of bark. I pull my body up onto the branch, using all my strength. I have a quick rest and look over at Nick. He's struggling on the rope. I regain my strength and jump up to grab the next branch. I scrape the bark of the tree with my feet as I try and get to the second branch. Once I'm on the branch, I rest for a couple of seconds and then keep going. I soon get the hang of it. Soon I'm at the top branch. I'm sitting on the branch getting some rest. After a couple of minutes I climb back down.

I walk over to the boulders and start climbing. They are massive boulders, very circular. There are no areas to grip easily. I try and grip the top of the first boulder. I pull myself up onto the top of it. Then I easily climb over three small boulders to get to the larger two. I wedge my foot in the crack in between the two and reach the top of the boulders. My arms are over the top of one of the boulders so I try and free my foot from the crack. I try and try and try but it doesn't move. My grip on the top of the boulder is loosening. I try and hold on as I try and pull my foot out one more time. It comes flying out and loosens my grip even more but I hold on. My feet are dangling over the side of the boulder and I manage to pull myself up. I sit and rest for a bit before jumping down each boulder onto the one below until I'm on firm ground again.

My last task is the cliff. Nick has just come back down it and is heading to the tree. I walk over to the side of the cliff and grip onto the rocky areas pointing out of the cliff. It's a little bit like rock climbing, but more dangerous. Soon I've gotten to the top and make my way back down to the bottom. It wasn't a very high cliff.

Nick is finished as well. He whispers in my ear, "We'll be able to climb to get away from them."

I smile. That's a good thing. Not everyone can climb. But we can. We watch the other tributes until we have to change activities.

Our next activity is picking food. We are taken into a little room full of lots of different plants, bushes and trees. There is a clearing in the middle of the room where Tia sits.

"You may begin picking what you think are edible plants," she says. "You will have ten minutes. Then you will come to me and I'll tell you whether the plants are edible. Then you will be given books to read on plants. The books state whether they're edible or not edible, and the poisons or cures they contain."

Nick and I split up and look for edible plants. I try and find as many edible plants as possible. Lil taught me about the plants every Sunday so I shouldn't be too bad at picking plants.

Soon the ten minutes are finished and Tia examines the plants. My plants are examined first. As she examines them she puts them in a pile.

"Perfect," she says. "These are all edible."

I feel much better now. I can climb to escape people and I can pick edible foods which is a really important part of survival.

I watch as Nick gets his plants examined. Instead of putting them in one pile, Tia puts them in two piles.

She points to the pile on the right, "not edible." She points to the pile on the right. "Edible. Good try though."

He's got more plants in the edible pile but it's still going to be hard for him.

We read the books for the remainder of the lesson. I try and take in as much information as possible.

A little while later we move onto our third activity. There are two bows and two quivers each with ten arrows in them. There are some targets far in front of us. I grab a bow and place the front of my first arrow on the arrow rest and use my other hand to hold together the arrow and the bow's string. I aim, pull back the arrow and shoot. My arrow has touched the target but not the centre of it. Hopeless. I look over at where Nick's arrow has landed. He's not having much luck either. We keep trying though. Eventually it gets better. Landing closer to the middle. Once we run out of arrows we go and retrieve them making sure that we don't accidentally hit each other with an arrow. Finally we start hitting the middle of the targets. Arrow after arrow. Perfect hits. Amazing.

Our fourth activity is throwing knives. We start throwing knives at the targets. We don't hit the middle of the targets, we're way off. We get slightly better, but we're not as good as we were at shooting arrows.

Our next activity is throwing spears. Once again we're not very good. Well, I'm not very good. Nick's amazing. He throws with so much force and he still gets right on target.

We go through all of the activities. Making fires, camouflaging, throwing heavy things, working out traps and striking with swords. We have a safety barrier around us so we don't get hurt.


	7. An Ally And An Enemy

After we have finished all the activities we go back to our floor of the tributes building and have lunch with Danielle and Dale. They ask us how we went. I'm silent. How can I tell them? I did terrible. Instead Nick speaks.

"Sarah is amazing," he says. "She can climb, not just trees but boulders, nets, cliffs, basically everything."

"It wasn't that hard," I mutter. "You could do it too."

"Not as well as you."

"Well, you can throw spears, I can't."

"Yeah, but you can pick edible plants."

"You can hit targets with a bow and arrow."

"So can you."

"Ok," Dale says. "You both seem to be going pretty good. You can both climb which is excellent. A way to get away from other tributes. Nick, you can throw spears. That can be a weapon you can use. Sarah, you can pick edible plants. Very good for surviving. You can both use a bow and arrow well. You have a chance of winning. You have the survival skills and you can attack other tributes and predators."

"Predators?" I ask.

"I forgot to tell you," Dale says. "There may be predators other than your fellow tributes in the arena. They could be deadly. There could be wolves, sharks, different animals. There's one thing you must know. Always kill them. They are made by the game makers as an extra part of the game. You have to understand this. If they come near you either run or attack. They won't retreat. They are bloodthirsty. Always ready to kill. There may not be any animals in the arena this year. There may be a few. There may be a lot. No one knows, apart from the game makers." He looks down. "Not only that there are other things in the arena. Unusual things. Blood rain, deathly fog, earthquakes. All these things could happen. Just beware."

We sit there in silence for the rest of the meal before leaving for training again. This time we work on things that we aren't good at. I don't work on spears because if I'm going to be allies with Nick then he can throw spears. Only one of us has to be good at one thing. Instead I go over to the swords and wait for an opponent. While I wait I watch the other tributes. They're all so good. There's the district 1 girl, throwing spears. There's the district 7 boy throwing a large ball with spikes on hit. The ball goes flying. It looks really heavy. There's the district 4 girl throwing knives. She hits every target. She's fast and strong. She scares me.

Suddenly someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around. It's the seventeen year old boy from district 2. I've seen him train. He's amazing with swords.

"You ready," he says picking a sword. I walk through the two poles that cover you in the safety barrier. I pick a sword and go over to the circle where you practice fighting with swords. I see Nick watching me out of the corner of my eye. He looks concerned. It might be because I'm training with an enemy.

My thoughts are stopped by the countdown. Three, two, one. It has started. He swings his sword at my waste but I block it with my own. I duck before he swings again, this time at my head. I realize I'm not attacking. I'm defending. If I want to win the games I have to practice attack. I block his sword as he swings again. Then I swing. I'm aiming for his waste. He blocks it and quickly strikes my leg. I couldn't block it. Luckily I have the safety barrier on.

"You're pretty good," he says.

"I'm better at other things," I say angrily. I'm certain he's lying.

"I've seen," he replies in a calm voice. "You could win."

He's so aggravating. He keeps lying. The countdown starts again. Three, two, one.

I try to strike his chest but he blocks it. I swing at his head but he ducks. He grabs my ankles and pulls me down. He quickly stands up and tries to strike my face. I block it and swing at his feet but he jumps. I start getting up but am forced to block another strike aiming for my arm. I'm up. I swing at his head and he ducks but isn't quick enough to block my strike in his chest.

The safety barrier stops it from harming him.

"Wow," he says. "Never knew you could do that."

"I was angry," I reply.

"Well, my district partner doesn't want to be allies with me," he says. I can see he's hinting something. He puts out his hand. "It'll be easier with two of us."

I walk away. I make my way over to Nick who's at the throwing knives activity. He stops.

"What was going on over there?" he asks. "With the district 2 guy."

"He wants us to be allies," I reply. "I can't trust him."

"Why?"

"He's aggravating."

"He could save your life."

"I wanted to be allies with you."

"Can't we have all three of us as allies?"

I pause. "If you got to know him you would understand."

"Understand what?"

It isn't Nick's voice. I turn around. It's the district 2 guy.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"I may have annoyed you but I'm being serious," he says.

"I don't even know you," I reply.

"I don't know you either, but there's something about you. I can't let you die."

What's that supposed to mean?

"Come on Sarah," Nick says. "He's not going to hurt you."

He puts his hand out to the tribute. They shake hands and say "allies".

Then the tribute turns to me and puts his hand out. I stay back for a while and then shake it.

"My name's Lucas," he says.

"Sarah," I reply. "And this is Nick." I point to Nick but he's already gone back to what he was doing.

I go back to the sword activity. Lucas follows me.

"Another round?" he asks.

I nod. We grab our swords and wait for the countdown to finish. Soon we're fighting again. I think I'm getting better. I used to be horrible at this. Well, that's what I thought. Lucas must have thought differently. He kept complementing me. There's something about him, something that makes me feel queasy. Maybe it's just because he's from a different district and could turn on me at any time in the arena. But he seems nice. We fight for a while and then I decide to move on to something different.

Knife throwing. The girl from district 4 is still there. I grab a few knives and start throwing. The girl just looks at me. I look back at her after a while. She's giving me the death stare.

"I'd like to be left in peace," she says.

I'm silent. Is she telling me to leave the activity? I guess she is.

"I'm allowed to be here," I reply.

"If you want to make friends you had better go somewhere else," she says in a scary tone. She starts throwing knives again. "Just so you know we will never be friends, let alone allies. Sarah and Ruby. Never going to happen."

"I know you don't like me," I retort. "That doesn't mean I have to leave."

She turns around and stares at me. Her arm is back, ready to throw at any moment. I leave. I meet Nick at the bow and arrow activity.

"Hey," he says.

"Hey," I reply. "I'm never going to get any practice on throwing knives."

He looks at me inquisitively.

"The girl, Ruby," I explain. "From district 4. She obviously doesn't like me."

"She doesn't like me either," Nick says.

"Did she threaten to throw a knife at you?"

"No! Why'd she do that?"

"She just did. She hates me."

"You're in trouble. We shouldn't make enemies."

"Hey! I wasn't the bad guy!"

"I'm not saying that. I'm just warning you."

I grab a bow and arrow and start shooting. For the rest of the afternoon I avoid Ruby, the girl from district 4, and work on things that I can't do well.


	8. Breakdown

After a couple of hours we are taken back to our floor on the tribute building. I miss dinner and go straight to my bedroom. I stuff my face in the pillow. It dampens from my tears. Soon there's a knock at the door. I'm silent. The door opens and in comes Nick.

"Hey," he says, sitting on the side of my bed. "What's wrong?"

I stay silent, my head still in my pillow. I wish he would leave.

"You don't know how petrified I am," I say after a while. "The girl from district 4. I bet I'm her first target. Lucas. How can we trust him? He could be pretending."

"We'll see," he says. "We have to make allies. Not enemies. He could help us."

"I'm just so scared," I say. I turn around and look at him. "I'm the youngest. What are the chances of me living?"

The tears come out again. I try to stop crying but I can't. Nick puts his arm around me.

"I'm so sorry," I say. My voice is wobbly. "I haven't been fair to you."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," he replies. "I've been mean to you, because of how I've felt about the whole situation. I know it's hard. Trust me; we'll get through this together."

After a while I stop crying and wipe my tears away. I only leave my room once I'm certain that I don't look like I've been crying. Nick follows me into the main room where Danielle and Dale are. From the looks on their faces I'm pretty sure they've guessed what's happened. I sit down and eat my dinner. Everyone's silent. I decide to ask some questions, get some tips on what to do tomorrow.

"So tomorrow's going to be pretty busy," I say. "Anything else we need to know?"

"Well," Danielle replies. "I'll tell you your schedule first. Then Dale can tell you some tips on what to do. You will wake up early and we will eat our breakfast together and discuss anything that needs to be discussed. You are required at the training centre at eight and the personal training sessions will start at ten. You guys will be last so once you've finished you have to come back here straight away and have lunch. After that your stylists will get you ready for the opening ceremony. Before you put your outfits on you will come and sit down and quickly find out the training scores. Then you will put your outfits on and wait for your interview. That will take a long time so I suggest that when you come back you go straight to bed so that you're ready for the Hunger Games. They start just after lunch but there is a process to be done beforehand."

"In your personal training sessions you will need to make an impression," Dale says. "You need to make sure they don't forget you. Do whatever you want. Anything that will be unforgettable but amazing. For your interviews be yourself. People will like you for who you are. That's all I can tell you. I think you guys are capable of winning."

I quickly finish my dinner and go to my room. I think that it's a good idea to get some sleep. Tomorrow I'll have to wake up early and it'll be a pretty busy day. I lie down on my bed and close my eyes. I hope and pray that those dreaded dreams won't haunt me tonight.


	9. Impressions

I wake up surprised. I didn't have any nightmares. I look at the clock on my bedside table. Today's the big day. Probably the last day of my life. It's seven o'clock. I get up and have a quick shower before meeting in the main room for breakfast.

"Good morning," Danielle says.

Nick and Dale are there too. I sit down next to Nick and eat my breakfast. Dale gives us some tips.

Once we've finished eating, Dale takes us to the training centre. We're right on time. We start practicing again. This time I have a little go at knife throwing because Ruby isn't there. Once she comes though, I leave. She scares me too much. I practice other things that I'm not good at.

Before I know it, Tia has lined all the tributes up outside the training centre in order. It must be ten o'clock. Butterflies flutter in my stomach. What happens if I don't make a good impression? I'll get a low score and I'll be an easy target. I'm starting to freak out.

The first tribute goes in, the girl from district 1. She's got bright orange hair and seems about eighteen years old.

After about fifteen minutes the district 1 boy goes in. He's got black curly hair and looks fierce. He seems like he's fifteen years old. He's got lots of muscle.

I'm still freaking out.

"Hey," Nick whispers. "You okay? You're shaking."

I turn around and nod. I didn't realize I was shaking.

I watch as the district 2 girl goes in. She's got dark brown hair, nearly black. It's short and tied up in a bun. Her skin is a bit darker than mine. Mines tanned too.

Then Lucas goes in. I suddenly realize the size of his muscles.

Next is the district 3 girl. Long blonde hair and freckles.

The district 3 boy. Straight light brown hair falling all over his face.

District 4 girl. Ruby. Pale skin, long golden hair.

District 4 boy. Tanned skin, short black hair.

I think one of those people will win.

District 5, district 6.

District 7. The girl goes in. She pats her light brown hair which is tied in two low plaits. She seems about fifteen years old.

Then the boy. The one who is strong. That's what I thought since I saw him throw those spiky balls. He's got tanned skin and black hair. It's the same length as the boy from district 3 but neater.

District 8, district 9, district 10, district 11.

"Sarah Losel," Tia says. "Your turn."

"Good luck," Nick says.

Tia takes me into the training room. The doors close. She's no longer there. I'm in front of the game makers. They're on a platform about five meters above me. The silver concrete holds the platform up. It must have been painted silver.

"Sarah Losel, district 12" I say introducing myself.

My heart races. It beats so hard.

I go over to the climbing station. I climb the tree, the boulders, the cliff and the net. I'm finished climbing very quickly.

I go over and quickly pick some edible plants.

After that I've still got time so I grab the bow and arrows and start shooting at targets. Bang! Bang! Bang! I'm surprised. I'm even better than before.

Soon I'm taken out of the room. I've had my personal training session. I did the best I could.

I'm taken back to the tribute building. Once I get to my floor Dale and Danielle ask me how I went.

"So-so," I reply.

I quickly eat lunch. Just as I finish eating, Nick returns. I'm taken away by my stylists. They do my hair and makeup which takes ages. They also do other things beforehand like waxing my legs again. It takes ages. Finally I'm given my costume. I'm not allowed to put it on yet. My stylists take me to the lounge room. We all sit down.

"You both look stunning," Danielle says. Dale nods in agreement. He turns the TV on and we watch as they announce the scores.


	10. Opening Up

I try and remember all the scores in my head.

Emily, district 1, 11.

Lachlan, district 1, 12.

Charlotte, district 2, 10.

Lucas, district 2, 9.

Ellie, district 3, 10.

Daniel, district 3, 11.

Ruby, district 4, 12.

Niall, district 4, 11.

Top scores. How can I beat them? The district 5 tributes both have lower scores. 6 for the girl and 8 for the boy. The district 6 tributes both have 7. The district 7 girl gets a 5 and the boy gets an 11. District 8 and 11 get 5s and 6s. The district 9 girl gets a 9 and the boy gets a 7. The district 10 tributes both get 10. Now it's our turn.

Sarah, district 12, 8.

Nicholas, district 12, 9.

"Well done guys," Danielle says. "That's pretty good. Now go get your outfits on."

The stylists take us away, back to our rooms. I slip on my aqua coloured dress. There's a black bow at the waist and it comes with a black cardigan. The dress is knee length and easy to move in.

We meet Danielle and Dale in the lounge and then head of to the main building of the city. It's not far away. We meet all the other tributes there. Danielle, Dale and the stylists leave us and sit down with the audience.

"Hey," Lucas greets us. "Good scores."

"They're horrible scores," I reply. "Well, at least mine were."

"We're all going to work together so we should be alright," Lucas says. "And they weren't bad."

Suddenly I hear the new interviewer's voice.

"Hello," he says. "I'm Rik Huis. I will be your interviewer tonight."

All of the tributes quickly line up in order side stage. Nick and I are last. Rik is still talking.

"Let's get our first interview started. Please welcome Emily Todos."

There's a large applause. Emily leaves side stage and sits in the seat next to Rik.

"So, Emily, were you happy with your score?" Rik asks.

"Of course I was," she replies, smiling to the crowd. Her orange hair is in ringlets and is very shiny.

She's in a golden dress. "Getting an eleven is pretty amazing. It makes me feel like I actually might have a chance at winning. Only one or two people can win so, getting that score makes me more confident."

"That's very good to hear. Tell me, have you got any allies?"

"Yes I do. My district partner and I have decided to become allies. There were a few people that I wanted to make allies with but, I don't know if I can fully trust them, so I'm sticking with my district partner, Lachlan."

"Did you know Lachlan before you both were chosen to compete in the Hunger Games?"

"Yes, I was friends with his older brother so I got to know Lachlan a bit."

"Thank you, please put your hands together for Emily, district 1!"

Next is the district 1 boy. He tells us about how he's ready for anything and although he may be young he is still strong enough to win.

The district 2 girl who I found out was the age sixteen, is next. She tells us that she doesn't have any allies but she doesn't care because she knows she can win by herself.

Lucas is next. He walks out onto the stage and sits in the seat.

"How did you feel when you were picked at the reaping?" Rik asks.

"Well, like most people I was hoping I wouldn't get picked," Lucas replies. "It was a shock and a horrible feeling. I don't want to kill anyone in the arena. It's wrong. It's just so stupid! Why can't we all just be friends, not enemies?"

I'm surprised. He seems like he's having a meltdown.

"Have you got any allies?"

"Yes, nice allies. Not my district partner though. She's too stubborn to even want her district partner as an ally. Nick and Sarah from district 12 are my allies. The nicest tributes here."

The crowd gasps. Lucas seems to have calmed down.

"Why Nick and Sarah as allies?"

"Everyone may think that they have no chance. They do. I've seen them. And does it matter if I make allies with them? They're nice, and only one or two people win. I may as well spend my last days with those who are caring and the nicest friends ever."

"Thank you, please give a big round of applause for Lucas Nil, from district 2."

Hardly anyone claps. Lucas hurries off the stage. I watch as he literally runs past me. Nick looks at me.

"Biggest onstage meltdown I've seen," he says. "You think he'll be alright?"

"I hope so," I reply. "If he isn't, what will we do?"

"I don't know."

We watch the other interviews take place.

The district 3 girl Ellie tells us how confident she is. The tone of her voice scares me.

The district 3 boy Daniel seems so calm you wouldn't have thought he was even competing in the Hunger Games.

Next is the district 4 girl, Ruby.

"How has your couple of days been here?" Rik asks.

"The opening ceremony was good. So was training, apart from the girl from district 12 annoying me. She thinks she can just come and practice with me. I don't want her practicing with me. She thinks she's so good. Trust me. She'll be one of the tributes I'll love to kill."

My heart pounds. Some of the tributes look at me. I'm starting to freak out. Nick shakes me.

"You've got us, I'll be there to protect you, so will Lucas," he says.

"But," I start muttering. "You could die. We're there for each other. Not just for me. Deal?"

"Deal."

The district 4 boy doesn't appear scared about the Hunger Games.

Next is district 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

It's my turn now.

"Please welcome, Sarah Losel from district 12!" Rik announces

I walk onto the stage and sit down.

"There were quite a few sad faces at the reaping. Can you tell us about it?" he asks.

"A few?" I enquire. "I only noticed my sister. We were very close. We were the last people of our family. We love each other very much. She was always there for me. She didn't want to lose me."

"How do you feel about competing?"

"I'm scared, but I know that I have a chance of winning. I'll do my best."

"Do you have any allies?"

"Nick and Lucas. They're my allies. We will be there for each other during the games so we should get pretty far in the games."

"That's good to hear. Put your hands together for Sarah representing district 12."

I leave the stage and wait backstage. My heart is beating fast. Nick is on the stage having his interview. I can't seem to stay focused on him. I'm too worried about the games tomorrow, Ruby killing me and Lucas's meltdown.

Soon the interviews are over and we are taken back to the tribute building. I wash my makeup off and put my hair back to normal before trying to get some sleep.


	11. Persistence

I tossed and turned all night last night. I just got a few hours of sleep. I have a shower, get dressed in the clothes provided for the Hunger Games and go to the main room. I eat my breakfast with Danielle and Dale. Nick's not awake yet.

After I've eaten my breakfast I go and knock on Nick's door. I hear his voice softly. I open the door and see him all dressed and ready. He's lying on his bed, his head in his pillow. I think he's been crying.

"Nick," I say softly. "Nick, are you ok?"

"I wish I was," he replies looking up at me. His eyes are red. "I don't want to kill people, I don't want to be killed."

"Neither do I, but we have to."

"How have you coped?"

"I haven't, you've had to help me. We'll get through this together."

He wipes his eyes and then follows me out into the main room. He eats his breakfast. Danielle hugs him. She then hugs me. I try and resist the urge to cry. My eyes become watery.

"Thanks for everything," I whisper.

"That's alright," she whispers back. "You can do this."

She lets go and says goodbye as Dale leads us to the hovercraft waiting outside the building. Dale says goodbye and wishes us luck. We go and take a seat in the hovercraft. One of the peacekeepers sticks a fat needle into my arm. It makes a beep and then is pulled out. It has inserted my tracker. I can tell this from the previous games.

Nick who is next to me grabs my hand. Lucas is opposite me. He smiles briefly at me. I try and smile back, but it's so hard. I look at Ruby who is sitting near Lucas. She has a malicious smile on her face. The district 7 boy looks at me fiercely. He looks like he's about sixteen years old. I'm suddenly really scared. I'm shaking uncontrollably. I try and stop. It's not too noticeable. Finally I stop shaking.

"We're nearly there," says the lady who shoved that needle into my arm. I feel the hovercraft go down. When we reach the ground we are taken to a room. One room for each tribute. In that room is a glass tube. One of the peacekeepers tells me to go in the tube. It starts moving up, until I'm in the arena.

It's here. The day it all starts. The countdown for the Hunger Games will start very soon. I hear the announcer Rik, say "Let the 97th Hunger Games begin. The countdown starts. I see the numbers appear on the Cornucopia.

60, 59, 58.

I look around for Nick. He's not too far away from me.

54, 53, 52.

Now I look for Lucas. Oh no! He's far away from me.

48, 47, 46.

I look around at my surroundings. Forest in front, rainforest behind. We're in a large grassy space in the middle of the arena.

41, 40, 39.

First, hide.

37, 36, 35.

No, they'll easily kill me.

32, 31, 30.

First, run. There are backpacks scattered around the Cornucopia. I'll get one of them.

26, 25, 24.

If I'm lucky I'll get away with no injuries.

20, 19, 18.

I'll probably get injured, but I have to try.

15, 14, 13.

I'll probably die in the bloodbath.

9, 8, 7.

I'll just get a backpack and run.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

I sprint. I've found the backpack closest to me. I keep sprinting. I quickly grab the backpack. Someone tackles me to the ground. I wait for my death to come. I'm still gripping the backpack. I decide to try and fight. I do want to live. I roll onto my back and push the attacker off of me. It's the district 5 girl. She falls onto the ground beside me. I quickly get to my feet, but I'm pulled down instantly by the girl. She's about 15 years old from what I could briefly see. I can't get distracted. She pins me to the ground and punches me in the face. I taste blood. I push her off and swing my backpack at her. I quickly get up and run but she follows me. I only managed to slow her down for a couple of seconds. I'm near the forest area when she pulls on my foot again. I fall to the ground. I roll onto my back, sit up and push the girl away. There's a tree about fifty meters away. I need to get to it. Then I can climb it and get away. I reach for a nearby stick. It's not a weapon but it'll do. I stab her in the stomach, drop the stick and run away. I haven't killed her. She's probably winded though. I decide not to go for the nearest tree. I need one a bit deeper in the forest. When I reach the first tree it starts going downhill. I try and keep my pace but I'm more cautious. Suddenly I feel my hair being pulled. I fall to the ground. The district 5 girl is definitely persistent. She pins me down again. I try and roll onto my side. Instead I send us both rolling down the hill, bashing into twigs. I feel them scratching my skin. Suddenly I feel more confident. I got away from the cornucopia. Now I just have to get away from the girl. I can do this. I see a tree coming up. We're going to roll into it. I prepare for the sudden pain that will come. It comes. My back has hit the tree and hurts, but I have to keep going. She's got the stick. That was so stupid of me. Why'd I leave the stick! I desperately reach for it but she moves it out of reach. Instead I quickly bite her arm. She loses focus and I snatch the stick from her grip. She punches me in the stomach. I scream in pain.

"No one's here to help you now," she says.

She punches me in the stomach again. My eyes are watering. This is torture. I sit up fighting against the pain. I stab her in the stomach and stand up. I grab her by her shirt, turn around and push her up against the tree. I've still got the stick in my hand. She tries to grab it but I keep my grip. I kick her and suddenly an idea pops into my head. Still gripping her shirt as well as the stick I push her away from the tree and down the hill. I quickly start climbing the tree. Onto the first branch, then the next. Higher and higher. I'm about 15 meters above the ground. I sit on a branch and quickly look through my backpack. The girl is getting onto her feet. Making her way to the tree.


	12. Two Against One

Quickly I go through the backpack.

Rope. I tie the backpack to the tree trunk.

Drink bottle with no water.

Sleeping bag.

Some apples and cold meat.

A little pocket knife. I test it by scraping the tree with it. It leaves a deep mark.

I look down. The girl is climbing the tree. I'm sure it's going to have to be a fight to the death.

She's close. I kick her in the face. I start climbing down. She jumps and strikes my leg with the stick which I dropped when I was climbing. I fall. My feet meet the ground and an excruciating pain rises through them and up my legs. I'm lying on the ground on my back in pain. I see the girl over the top of me. I try and grab the stick. I've gotten a grip on it but she's not letting go. I pull it with lots of force. She loses grip and I throw it away. She pounces at me like a lion and punches me in the face again. I suddenly realize that I still have the pocket knife. When she tries to punch me again, I put the pocket knife out in front of me and it slices her hand. Blood drips onto my face. She screams. The girl snatches the pocket knife out of my hand. She raises it ready to stab me. I try to get out from under her. She tries to stab me but I manage to wriggle away. I try and grab the pocket knife but she slices my hand with it. I make another desperate attempt to grab it. This time I grab it, but she doesn't loosen her grip. She tries to stab me again but I use all of my strength to push her arm away.

"Nick!" I scream desperately. "Lucas!"

I roll over and pin her down. It's not enough. She's rolls over again so that I'm on my back. She's got the advantage. She loses balance and sends us rolling down the hill again. We bump into a pointy rock. I quickly get up onto my feet but my grip loosens on the pocket knife. She swings at my legs and cuts one of them. Blood oozes out of the deep cut. It makes my leg feel tingly and sore. She gets to her feet but I push her onto the rock. I can see the sharpness of it's hurting her. Suddenly she pulls herself up and turns around. Now I'm stuck being bashed against the rock. My back is killing me. She stops.

"Any last words?" she says pulling the pocket knife up into a position where she can easily stab me.

I scream. I have to get away. But how can I? Every part of my body is killing me. I have to go on. I push her off with my feet. She topples over the rock and down the hill. I need the knife. I run after her, snatch the knife out of her hand and keep her pinned to the floor.

"No!" she screams.

I get ready to stab her. My heart is beating fast. I'm going to be a murderer. The thought of it scares me. It's either kill her or be killed. She wriggles and squirms. It's nearly impossible to keep her held down. Suddenly someone pulls me up. The girl stands and punches me in the stomach. Another punch. The person behind me finally loses his grip. The girl starts running away. I fall to the ground, unable to stand. I'm winded. I don't know how badly, but I do know one thing. I feel like this is the end of me. I close my eyes to try and stop the tears from spilling out. It doesn't work.

"Sarah," says a familiar voice. I open my eyes.

"Lucas," I reply. "Is that really you?"

He nods. "Hang in there Sarah," he pleads. He's kneeling beside me tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault," I whisper. "I shouldn't have gone for a backpack."

"What?"

"I went to get a backpack. That's when it started. Since then the girl and I have been fighting. I don't know what happened after that."

"Her district partner held you so she could hurt you. I pulled him away from behind and they ran."

"Thank you."

I lie there for a while, still crying. I watch as Lucas examines my injuries. There's my leg and hand which were cut by the knife. The knife! It's still in my hand.

"I got the knife," I say. "I got some other stuff too."

He suddenly looks up. "Do you hear that?" he asks.


	13. The Alerting Lake

I suddenly realize what he's talking about. There are footsteps coming our way. "Let's get out of here," I say getting to my feet. Every part of me aches. "I need the backpack."

I make my way to the tree. And start climbing it. I can't. My leg is aching and my hand isn't getting a grip. I fall down. Lucas tries this time. He has more luck. He unties the rope and throws down the backpack as well as the rope. I wrap the rope up and put it back in the backpack while Lucas comes back down. We walk deeper into the forest. We can't run. My leg wouldn't handle it. We end up at a little river. I sit down and wash my bloodstained body. The water around me turns red in a matter of seconds. I sit back down on the rock and Lucas examines my leg.

"What happened?" he asks.

I explain everything. The girl not giving up. Suddenly I hear the canons that symbolize a tributes death. 1, 2, 3, 4. Four tributes dead.

"Wow, usually there's like heaps of tributes dead at the start," I say.

"Yeah, this is going to be an interesting Hunger Games," Lucas replies. "If there aren't many deaths at the start it usually gets interesting."

"Do you think Nick's alright?"

"I hope so."

We're silent for the rest of the afternoon, thinking about how we're going to survive.

"I think we should find a safer place to stay," Lucas suggests. I can tell something has made him stir.

"What makes you think that?" I ask curiously.

"I just have a funny feeling about this place. I don't know what it is."

I look at the river. The current is moving towards the right but the blood is moving towards the left. The blood has been hanging around us all afternoon.

"That's strange," I say. "The current's moving one way but the bloods moving the other way."

He gets up startled. "Come on, we have to go," he says helping me to my feet. My body still aches from the fight before.

We start walking away from the river. It starts to get dark.

"That wasn't normal," he says. "Nothing like that could've possibly happened."

"It could have been planned by the game makers..." I start saying but I'm cut off by Lucas.

"To alert someone."

"What! Haven't we gone through enough for one day?"

"I told you, when there aren't many deaths at the start, that means the games get more interesting.

We should be safe in a tree. We could also try and find out what's going on around us while we're up there. Are you alright to climb?"

"I'll try."

Once we're certain that we're far from the river we find a tree. I start climbing it. The gash on my hand starts to bleed again. I jump back down. Lucas tears part of the bottom of his trousers off. He uses the knife to help him. Then he wraps the material around my hand. It acts as a bandage. It should hopefully stop some of the bleeding. I start to climb the tree again. I get to the second branch and wait for Lucas to start climbing. We keep climbing higher and higher.

The sound of a canon startles me. It isn't too dark so I scan the area around me. Suddenly I see four figures. One of them is lying dead on the ground. I look at the other figures which appear to be fighting. There's something about one of them. He looks familiar. It can't be. It can't be Nick.


	14. TogetherAt Last

"Nick's in trouble," I say urgently to Lucas. "We have to help him."

We quickly but carefully get down from the tree. I grab the pocket knife out of my backpack. We start running. I push through the pain in my body. We keep running in the direction where Nick is. I can hear screaming. It's the same scream as before. The girl that nearly killed me from district 5. We keep running. I can see the shapes in the distance. On and on we go until we reach him.

"Hello again," I say which makes the district 5 girl turn around. She stares at me angrily, before running at me. As she bumps into me I push her to the ground. She brings me down with her. I pin her down to the ground.

"Leave him alone!" I yell

"This is the Hunger Games!" she yells back. "We are going to kill people!"

"Good luck with that!" I shout showing her the knife.

"She makes an attempt to grab it but I pull it away. Suddenly it's jerked away from my grip. Not by the girl. I'm pulled up onto my feet. It's the district 6 boy. He pins me to the floor but Lucas pulls him off. He goes to strike Lucas in the head but Lucas ducks. I grab the boy's foot and he slips and falls on the ground. I grab the pocket knife that he dropped on the floor. Now he comes to attack me again. The girl joins him. She pulls my hair while he tries to grab the knife. I keep pulling it away from his grip so instead he punches me in the face. Nick pushes the girl over while Lucas pounces onto the district 6 boy who rolls off of me.

It's dark now and hard to see. I barely see the district 5 girl grab a stick and strike Nick in the stomach. I lunge for the stick and pull it out of her hands. She tries to grab the pocket knife. She pulls hard and I lose grip. She pins me to the ground and gets ready to stab me. Her arm is raised. I get ready for my death. Suddenly she is pulled up by Lucas. He flings her to the ground. I get up and run to her. I know that this is going to be a fight to the death. I snatch the knife out of her hand. I get ready to stab her but Lucas's voice distracts me.

"Help!" he yells desperately.

I turn around to see the district 6 boy holding Lucas in a headlock. I start to run but the girl grabs my foot and pulls me down again. I kick her away and run towards Lucas. This time the district 5 girl is too slow. Nick is searching through the dead girl's backpack, looking for anything valuable. I feel my backpack still on my back. I can't lose it. I get to where Lucas is and stab the district 6 boy in his hand. He lets go of Lucas. Lucas gasps for air and I pounce on the district 6 boy. I've pinned him to the ground.

"Don't mess with me!" I yell, furious.

I raise the knife and get ready to stab him. I have to kill him. Just stab him already. It's not that hard. I move the knife down but can't seem to pierce his skin. He rolls over sending me with him down the hill. We finally stop rolling and he's got me pinned to the ground. His arm is over my neck pushing my head back. Lucas is busy fighting the girl.

"I am going to kill you!" the boy says maliciously.

He grabs the pocket knife with his other hand. He raises it ready to stab me. Again, I'm certain that my death will come. I close my eyes, waiting. No, I'm still alive. I feel his body weight being lifted off of me. I open my eyes and see Nick attempting to grab the knife. The district 6 boy pulls the knife away. I'm behind him and he can't see me so I make a desperate lunge at the knife. I snatch it out of his hand and give it to Nick before quickly pinning the boy to the ground.

"Kill him!" I shout at Nick making sure he understands. "I can't!"

I keep the boy pinned to the ground but leave Nick room to stab him. I watch as the knife pierces his skin. The boy starts choking. Soon he is dead. I get off of him and go over to Lucas who has pushed the district 5 girl to the ground. She runs away into the forest. Nick flings his arms around me. I collapse into his arms, unable to stand.

"What happened to you?" he asked. He's obviously seen my deep gashes and cuts.

"I'll tell you later," I reply. "Please can we get out of here."

Lucas picks me up and we walk to a safer place. Who knows if it's safer? Nowhere is safe in the

arena. I hear the sound of the canon. Six dead. Eighteen left.

Nick scatters some valuable possessions that he found from the district 5 boy on the floor. I think it was the district 5 boy. Lucas puts me down on the ground. I try and sit up but I can't. My back is aching. Not just that, every part of my body aches.

"Food and a sharp knife," Nick says. He's telling us what he got from the boy.

"I've got some stuff in my backpack," I tell them.

They pull the backpack off of my back.

"Are you okay?" Nick asks.

"No," I reply. "First the district 5 girl attacked me when I got the backpack. I tried to get away. I couldn't. We ended up fighting in the forest, using anything that could be used as a weapon. Pointy rocks, sticks. I had the pocket knife so I tried to defend myself. We kept snatching it off of each other. I cut her once but she cut me twice. My back stings. We were rolling down a hill and I bashed into the tree."

"I'm so stupid," he says. "I should've gotten the medicine. There was a cream in the boy's backpack that soothed pain anywhere in the body. It was only for pain though, not cuts and gashes."

"It's alright," I reply. "How were you supposed to know that I'd be so weak?"

"We have to get it."

"No," I say reaching for his arm to stop him from leaving. An excruciating pain runs up my back and I lie back on the ground. "Maybe after some rest I'll be better. And it's too risky. You could get yourself killed."

Lucas is searching the contents of my backpack.

"Look," he says holding up a tiny jar. He starts to read the label. "Apply to cuts and gashes daily until healed."

"It'll do," I say. "I'll just have to push through the pain in my back.

They both rub the cream inside of the jar onto my gashes. Instantly the pain from those cuts goes. I'm so relieved. I already feel so much better. I close my eyes and quickly fall asleep.


	15. Kidnapped

I open my eyes. The sun is shining through the trees onto my face. I sit up, forgetting about my back. Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt too much. I stand up and start jogging around in a circle. It still doesn't hurt much. Just a tiny tingly pain that I can deal with. I look around me, excited to tell Nick and Lucas. No one. They've gone. It's only me. I clean up the things around me. I put the things scattered on the floor into my backpack. I look around again, this time for footprints. It's no use. The ground is full of twigs which would cover up any footprints. I start to climb a tree nearby, looking all over the place for Nick and Lucas. No sign of them. I climb back down and sit on a rock.

Something flies past me. It's not a bird. It's a spear. I turn around and look in the direction it came from. A girl appears in front of me. It's the district 1 girl.

"Sorry," she says, blowing a strand of orange hair off of her face. "I thought you were someone else." She sits down next to me. "I know where Nick and Lucas are. Down by the river. I can take you to them."

I don't trust her.

"Come on," she continues. "I'm not going to kill you."

I get up hesitantly and grab the spear.

"You would really kill me?" she asks, a smile appearing on her face. "Is that how you want to play it? Oh, you really are a funny one. Stupid too, to think that you can kill me." Her voice changes from innocent to angry. "You can't win. You're thirteen. Weak, easy target."

I drop the spear. How dare she say that?

"Face it, you're not going to win," she whispers in my ear. She's behind me now. She quickly pulls my arms back and starts tying my hands up with some rope. I wriggle and squirm and try to stop her. Nothing works.

"There," she says. "All ready for me to get the others and kill you."

She pushes me to the ground with so much force. She leaves me. I'm stuck here waiting to be ambushed by a bunch of strong tributes. I need to get away.

I wriggle over to my backpack. I manage to unzip it with my hands. I reach into the bag. I feel around for the pocket knife. I feel something sharp and guess it's the pocket knife. I pull it out of the bag. I'm taking ages. I really have to be quick if I want to get away. I twist my wrist into a position so that the knife faces the rope. I start cutting. It's hard and tiring. Finally I cut the rope and free my hands. I grab the spear, pocket knife and backpack and start climbing one of the surrounding trees. I hear their voices in the distance but I keep climbing. Higher and higher.

"I've got her hands tied up so she can't do anything," the district 1 girl, Emily says.

"I can't wait to get my knife into her," says another familiar voice, Ruby.

"I wanted to do the honours," a boy's voice says. I think it's the district 1 boy, Lachlan.

"You got to kidnap her district partner," Ruby argues.

What! I can't have heard that right.

"I didn't kill him though," Lachlan replies. "Charlotte told me not to."

"Who cares what Charlotte says," Ruby says furiously. "Her district partner Lucas betrayed us, we shouldn't trust her."

"Will you please be quite?" Emily snaps at them both. "We are about to put on a good show, arguing is no way to start."

Ruby snorts in disagreement, but they stop arguing. I'm high up in the tree when they reach the spot again.

"I thought you trapped her here!" Ruby yells. "What is wrong with you?"

"I did," Emily retorts. "That stupid little girl got away."

I aim for Lachlan. My arm is back ready to throw. I let the spear lose and it goes flying into Lachlan.

It pierces through his chest and he falls to the ground.

"Lachlan!" Ruby screams.

They curse and swear as Lachlan's life fades away.

"That stupid little girl is smarter than I expected," Emily yells.

Ruby starts tapping her on the shoulder.

"Emily!" she shouts. "Emily! We have to get out of here!"


	16. Deadly Wave

Emily looks in front of her. They start running the other way. Sprinting, actually. I look at what startled them. A massive wave of water is coming my way. Soon it reaches me. Even being high up on the tree it still towers over me. The water smashes down onto me. I hold onto the tree. I dig my nails into it, I'm so scared. I feel the tree tilting down. The water rises again. I see Lachlan's lifeless body floating on the surface. It sends shivers down my spine. I tighten my grip on the tree. Suddenly it rises out of the ground. I close my eyes. Thud. Water splashes all over my face. I hear the canon. I open my eyes. The tree has fallen onto its side and is floating on the surface like a log. I'm still clinging to it. I hear a voice in the distance.

"Sarah! Help me!"

I look all over the place, trying to find whoever called me.

"Sarah!"

Nowhere. I can't see anyone.

"Sarah! It's Nick!"

"Nick!" I yell desperately. "Nick! Where are you?"

"Near the tree!" he suddenly appears from under the water. In district 12 we were never taught how to swim. He goes under again. Another wave crashes down on us. I lose my grip on the tree. It slides out from under me and I'm pushed down into the water. I try and paddle back up for air. Finally I reach the surface. I gasp for air.

"Nick!" I yell.

I sink back under. I try and swim, pushing the water down under me with my hands. Who knows whether I'm swimming? I don't care. I'm back on the surface. I see Nick floating away from me. I paddle towards him.

"Nick!" I yell. "Nick! What are we going to do!"

"I don't know!" he says sinking back under again. I swim under and attempt to pull him up. We gasp for air but another wave sends us crashing down. My leg gets caught on something sharp. I open my eyes and look down. I'm stuck on a tree under the water. I'm losing breath. I try and free my leg. I pull and pull but it doesn't come lose. I feel like screaming. I pull again. This time it comes free. I can't move it though. It's gone to sleep. I swim upwards, dragging my leg. The water pushes me down again. It must have been another wave. I swim up again. Finally I reach the surface. I gasp for air and look around for Nick.

"Nick!" I yell. "Nick!"

My eyes are watering. I smack the water with my hands in anger. Why am I in these stupid Hunger Games! I scream out loud, furious. Another wave towers over me. I'm pushed down again. I roll and roll in the water. Suddenly I see something. It's on the ground. A bright orange thing that looks like a plug. I swim up and get some air before swimming down. I reach the bottom and pull at the plug. It doesn't budge. I'm losing breath quickly. I pull again and again and again. I give it a final pull before coming up to the surface again. I gasp for breath and go back down. I push my floating blonde hair away from my face. I pull at the plug again. Each time it moves a tiny bit more. Finally, I pull it with all of my might. It comes out. Still holding it I swim back to the surface. I look around for Nick. The water doesn't seem to be draining. The waves have stopped. I keep myself floating on the surface.


	17. Last Moments

I'm still floating on the surface. It seems like I've been lying here for hours. The water has gone down a tiny bit. The plug was only small, as small as a normal bath plug. The arena must be massive. I decide to try and find Nick and Lucas. I start swimming around, looking everywhere. After a while I give up. It's no use. I can't find them anywhere. The sound of a canon startles me. I start swimming again. Looking around everywhere for Nick and Lucas. What if they've died? What will I do?

"Nick!" I yell. "Lucas!"

No reply. I float on my back and sob. What am I going to do? I won't be able to live without them. It'd be like a nightmare. Suddenly someone grabs my leg from underneath me. I sink back down and quickly rise to the surface again, rubbing the water from my eyes. I look at who startled me.

It's Nick!

"What was that for?" I ask, half angry, half relieved.

"I thought we needed a little joke to lighten the mood," he replies.

I smile and splash him.

"We may as well make the most of the last moments of our lives," I say.

"What makes you so sure we're not going to win?" Nick asks. I shrug. "We've made it this far. Let's get the thought out of our heads."

"How many are left?" I ask curiously.

"I think there are eight dead," he replies. "That means there's sixteen left."

I sigh. More people to kill.

Nick starts splashing me again. I splash him back. For the first time since the Hunger Games began

I smile. He smiles too, obviously enjoying himself.

"We can win," he says after a while. "We can go home."

"We'll try," I reply.

We start splashing each other again. After a while we stop and talk again.

"It's weird," Nick says. "It's almost like the water's draining."

I look around. It's gone down even more, revealing the tops of some of medium sized trees.

"That would be my fault," I say smiling. "I pulled the plug out. There was a plug in the ground."

"Wow," he replies. "The water was deep. It would've been so hard."

I nod in agreement. Just spending time with Nick again feels so nice. I can't imagine life without him.

"We should get to a tree," I say after a while. I've just remembered what Dale told us, about the dangerous creatures. "We don't know what could be lurking underneath us."

We swim over to a tree and sit on one of the branches above the water.

"We're doing pretty well," he says after a while. "It's nearly half way."

"I didn't think that I'd make it this far," I say. "But now, maybe we can win. I managed to get away from the Ruby and Emily, I killed Lachlan and we've been in fights with other tributes."

"You might have a chance at winning," Nick says. "I don't."

"What! You're better than me."

"No, I'm worse. You've been in more fights."

"You're not going to die. I won't let that happen."

We stay silent for a while. Soon it's getting dark. The water has gone down more but I think it'll take another day or two to fully drain.

Suddenly there's the sound of music. Nick points up at the sky which is now black. Writing appears saying "The Fallen". A picture comes up of each of the dead tributes. First is the girl from district 7. The boy from district 9. The girl from district 8. The boy from district 8. The boy from district 5. I'm pretty sure Nick killed him. The boy from district 6. Nick killed him too. The boy from district 1. I killed him. With the spear. Then there's the district 11 boy.

I try and work out who is left.

"Emily, Ruby and her district partner, Lucas and Charlotte, district 3, district 5 girl, district 7 boy." I say out loud.

"And the district 6 girl, the district 9 girl, the district 10 tributes, the district 11 girl and then us." Nick reminds me.

"Emily, Ruby and the district 5 girl definitely hate me," I say.

"The district 6 girl hates me for killing her district partner," Nick replies. "Also the district 7 boy."

I'm startled by my stomach growling. I haven't had any food since I got in the arena. I look through my bag for the food. I pull it out, all wet and soggy, tiny bits of mould on the skin of the apples and the meat. I sigh.

"Do you mind if I get some sleep," I ask.

"Go ahead, you need it," Nick replies. I close my eyes and in an instant I'm asleep.


	18. Lost

I feel a hand on my shoulder, someone whispering to me. My eyes flicker open.

"We have to go," Nick says. He has a worried expression. I look down but he stops me. "She'll see you. The district 9 girl. She's got a bow and arrow and I think a knife."

I start to panic.

"Don't worry," Nick whispers. "We just have to get away without her noticing us. She's on the ground. The water's drained and she's hunting."

"She'll be looking in the trees," I whisper back to Nick. "She'll spot us if we move."

"But she's set up camp."

"Okay," I whisper, finally agreeing to make a move. I search for the backpack. It's easy to see from the ground. I yank at it and quickly pull it towards me. An arrow comes flying into the tree where the backpack was. I take a quick peek below me. The girl has her arrow aimed at the tree, ready to shoot if there's movement. Nick's about to move. He hasn't seen the arrow. I quickly grip his arm and before he has time to move. He looks at me curiously and I look at the arrow then at him again. He finds the arrow and understands. I look down again. The girl has her arrow down. She's given up. Now, I mouth the words. We slowly start climbing down the tree, making sure that we aren't noticed by the girl. After a while we are on the ground walking soundlessly away, until a twig snaps. Nick stood on it. I look at the girl. She's turned around and spotted us.

"Run!" I yell at Nick.

He starts to run. I'm right behind him. I keep looking back and realize the girl is gaining ground on us. Nick quickly ducks behind a tree. I keep running. I can't take the risk. When I look back again I see Nick pouncing on the girl attempting to grab the knife. I grab the pocket knife which is in my belt. I run towards Nick. He's pinned the girl to the ground. The girl is punching him in the face. Blood drips from his nose. She rolls over and is on top of Nick, quickly getting her knife. She raises it to stab him. I dive and push her away. I got there just on time. We roll for a long time and then I pin her to the ground. She punches me and I raise the pocket knife. She snatches it out of my hand and cuts my arm. Blood oozes out of it. I grab the pocket knife but she rolls over and pins me to the ground. She grabs her knife and forces it up against my neck. She snatches the pocket knife out of my hand but Nick pulls her off of me before she can do any harm. He smashes her into a tree. She falls to the ground and Nick kicks her in the stomach. She screams and quickly grabs her bow that she dropped and reaches for an arrow.

"Nick!" I yell, desperately hoping he won't be killed.

She shoots but she misses. She shoots again and although Nick tries to dodge it, it hits him in the hand. He grunts in pain and doesn't see the next one coming. Straight in his chest. I get up and punch the girl in the face. I'm furious. I kick her and grab the knife that's on the ground. I swipe her on her forehead. She screams in pain and grabs another arrow. She aims but I chuck the bow and arrow out of her hands. I pin her to the ground before she can get up. Tears are already welling up in my eyes. Nick's dead. I raise the knife but she rolls over and now I'm on my back. She tries to grab the knife but I keep it out of her reach. She makes another desperate grab for it but I move it fast and stab her in the chest. She collapses on top of me. I push her off and run over to Nick. The two canons go off.

"Nick, Nick, no!" I weep by his side. The tears come flowing out. I scream in anger. I bury my head in my hands. I punch the ground.

"Why do you do this?" I yell out, hoping the game makers hear me. "You just like watching people kill each other!?"

I'm sure everyone can see my tear stained face. I don't care. I just want Nick back. I wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. I can't do this anymore. I can't do this without Nick. I lie there for a while, not wanting to leave. I know I have to leave, but I don't want to. I kiss Nick on the forehead and slowly walk away, making sure to take all the weapons and my backpack. I'm still crying. I can't stop. I look back at him again, his lifeless body. I start to run away. I'm scared, frustrated and heartbroken. My arm hurts. I just want to get out of this stupid place.

Fourteen tributes left. I'm nearly half way through the games. I'm scared. There's no one here to help me now. Who knows where Lucas is or what he's doing. He could have made an alliance with someone else.

I sit down and lean on a tree. I've killed two people. I do have a chance of winning. A very slim chance but I've got to try. I remember the first time Nick told me he loved me. I remember how he helped me through the previous days in the games. Just these thoughts make me feel like crying again.


	19. Where Is Safe

After a while I start to walk through the forest. I try and find a hill somewhere so that I might be able to see what's happening around me. It feels like I'm walking in circles. The same tree after another. The same ground surface, dirty and covered in leaves and twigs.

My stomach rumbles. My throat is dry. My body is aching. I decide to look around for water. I keep feeling the ground to see if it's moist. Just the same every time. I start to get frustrated. Suddenly I see something different in the distance, sparkling in the sunlight. I quicken my pace. The ground changes its surface. I kneel down again and feel it. Moist. Finally, a sign of water. I keep walking. I feel small rocks under my boots. I see bigger rocks in the distance. I start to run. I want to get to the water. I need water. As I approach the rocks I realize they are boulders. I start climbing. My arm aches. I start climbing down the other side. Sure enough I see the water, sparkling and clear.

I pull my backpack off of my back. I look for the water bottle. I fill it up with the water. I scoop up some of the water in my hands and spill it on my face. It cools me down instantly. I'm refreshed. I take a gulp of water from my bottle. My throat is still dry and every time I swallow down the water it hurts. I can't stop, I'm too dehydrated. The water tastes delicious, the best I've ever had. After drinking lots of water I look into the lake.

I stare at my reflection. My face is full of tiny cuts here and there. My face is screwed up in a frown. I don't smile any more. How can I? I look a little bit like a real fighter. Hunched shoulders, bruises, cuts and the frown. Suddenly the reflection changes. The water swirls, full of different colours, then Nick's face. Smiling up at me. Perfectly normal, realistic, you wouldn't have thought he'd been hurt so much in the Hunger Games.

The next vision is Lil. She's crying on the couch at home. But why? It's so realistic. Is this actually happening right now at home? Is this what Lil's going through. Watching me struggle through the Hunger Games.

Next is Ruby. She has a deep gash on her forehead. She's holding a knife. She's saying something.

"I can't wait to kill Sarah," she says. "She doesn't deserve to live. I'm surprised she's made it this far."

I gasp. I'm scared, frightened, horrified.

Next is Lucas. He's fighting with someone. The question is, who? Isn't that the district 6 girl? The girl has lots of weapons. She has a sword. She's trying to swipe him and create gashes so that she can win the fight. The sword knocks into Lucas's leg. Where are they? I recognize the trees in the background. Then I see one of the things that we stood on at the start, behind the trees. The hill. It's where I fought with the district 5 girl. Lucas is on the ground holding his leg. I can't watch. This must be really happening.

I grab my possessions and shove them in my bag. I swing my bag onto my back and start climbing the boulders again. I jump to the ground and start running. I think I'm going in the right direction. I feel the wind brushing up against my face. My blonde, bloodstained hair flows in the wind. I just keep running, I don't stop. Up hills down hills. Tripping in potholes. I hear a grunt and think I must be getting close. The clank of weapons. The smell of blood. I see Lucas through the trees.

"They underestimated me," the girl yells. "I can do this."

She has Lucas pinned to the ground, about to stab him with the sword. Lucas rolls over and keeps her on the ground. He punches the girl in the face and grabs the sword. He stabs her in the chest and she instantly dies.

I emerge out from behind my tree. The sword quickly slices my hand. I yell in pain.

"What was that for?" I ask Lucas furiously.

"Sarah," he gasps. "I didn't mean it."

"How can I believe you?" I yell at him and start running away. My hand is pouring blood everywhere. I can hear Lucas's footsteps behind me.

"Get away!" I yell.

"Sarah, I didn't mean to hurt you," he says grabbing my arm. I grab an arrow, set it up on my bow and prepare to shoot.

"That's what you think?" he asks. "I didn't mean it. I thought you were someone else."

"We can't be allies," I say firmly. "You betrayed me. This is the end of us. I already lost Nick, I'm losing you too and I don't care because you obviously were playing the game."

"I don't know what's got into you?" Lucas argues. "You've changed."

"I've been through a lot," I reply. "We all have. I can't deal with this. It's stupid."

"I can help you," Lucas says. He's so convincing. "I care about you."

I put my arrow back in the quiver. I hold the bow tight next to me.

Boom! The canon goes off.

Lucas is staring at me, expecting me to answer him.

"This is the end for us," I say. "We can both make it far, we could win, but if we were allies we'd have

to split up sometime. One of us would die. I don't want to build our friendship and then lose each other."

"What if we both die," he argues. "I don't want to spend my last few days alone without those who I care about. I want to keep us safe. I want to spend every last minute with you. You're not like the others. Your one of the most important people in my life. You mean a lot to me. I'm not leaving you."

"You have to," I say. "You have a better chance at winning. You don't need me tagging along slowing you down."

"You don't get it," he continues. "How many tributes have you killed? Lots. You can win. We both have a chance at winning. Why can't you believe me. I don't want to hurt you."

I don't speak. It seems like it was an accident. He apologized. He's always helped me and Nick. He can help me get over Nick's death. He'll be there for me, like he's always done.

"Come on," I say and walk past him to the area where all the tributes first stood in the arena. I hide behind some trees. "Any idea where to go?"

"I haven't been in the rainforest," Lucas replies. "I don't know what could be there, but I'm almost certain that this part of the forest is haunted. Full of illusions to muddle our brains, make us believe unrealistic things."

Suddenly there's a scream nearby. Another canon.

"Let's get out of here," Lucas says, grabbing me by the arm. We sprint across the grassy, open area and into the rainforest. We keep sprinting through the rainforest. My legs are stinging. I've never ran this fast. I feel like my life's in danger. I feel like there are things lurking behind the trees.

"No," I say, skidding to a halt. Lucas stops and stares at me. "This isn't right. There's something wrong. I feel safe in the forest. Not here. Please, we have to go back."

"We can't," Lucas replies. "Someone died there and they were close to us. We had to get away. Yes, the rainforest may feel unsafe but we have to face it. We have to get as far away from the middle as possible. We can't go back now."

His voice is wobbly. He's scared to. The sense of insecurity is strong, so strong. My vision goes blurry. Everything is blocked out by white. I lose balance and fall to the ground.


	20. A Brotherly Touch

My eyes flicker open. The ground moves below me. I groan and my eyes close again. Something moves me onto the ground. I have no idea what's happening.

"Sarah," someone whispers. "Sarah, you're awake, you're alright."

What? What's going on? Am I at home? Is Lil there soothing me because I've gotten out of the Hunger Games or something? The Hunger Games. Lucas. What happened to him?

"Help!" I yell. "No, he can't have died. He was my friend. You're lying to me."

"Sarah," the voice whispers again. "Open your eyes. It's Lucas."

My eyes slowly open again.

"What?" I ask. "What happened?"

"You were scared," Lucas replies. "You fainted. You were sweaty and that's when I realized how petrified you were. I carried you, so we could get as far away from everyone as possible."

"I'm so sorry," I whisper. "I didn't want you to have to deal with this."

"It's not your fault," he says, sitting down next to me. "It must be so hard for you. Your only thirteen years old and you've been in the games for a long time. You've had to kill people, become helpless and close to dying."

"You've dealt with that too," I say.

"Not as much as you," he replies.

My eyes start to fill with tears. "I can't do this anymore," I wail. He wraps me in his arms. I can't stop crying. I try so hard to stop but I just can't. I feel so secure in his arms. Like nothing can hurt me.

I don't know how long I've been crying. I'm still clinging to Lucas. He must be sick of me. I must be really annoying. He hasn't let go. He's always there for me. I start to wonder why I thought he would hurt me intentionally.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper.

"It's okay," he replies. "My sister was in the Hunger Games when she was your age. She lost but got very far. You two are so alike."

My stomach growls. "I haven't eaten anything," I say, wiping the tears from my face. "Can we please hunt?"

Lucas lets go of me and we grab our weapons and sneak soundlessly through the rainforest. I've never been hunting. I turn around and look at Lucas. He's searching the area around him. Suddenly I see something. As beautiful as it may seem I cannot trust it. Gold, brown and black, furry, fangs bared, ready to pounce at any minute. I know what it is. A jaguar, those horrendous animals used to scare me until I realized their beauty. Right now that fear is back.

"There's a jaguar behind you!" I yell at Lucas.

He turns around but the jaguar is already in the air, so close to pouncing on Lucas. He dives out of the way. I send an arrow flying at the fierce animal. I miss. I hear a canon. The jaguar growls and pounces again. This time on me. I'm too slow. I'm pinned to the ground unable to move, waiting for the end. I feel the sharp claws dig into my skin. The jaguar growls again and gets off of me. I sit up stunned. I just manage to see Lucas emerge from behind but my views blocked again as the jaguar pounces on Lucas. Lucas puts up his sword as the jaguars jumps on him. Straight through the heart. The jaguar collapses on top of Lucas. He sits up and looks at me. He is panicking, terrified, unable to control himself.

"Come on," he says. "Nowhere is safe."

"I thought you already knew that," I reply.

"I thought it would be safer," Lucas says. "I don't want to stay here."

"There are lots of tributes in the forest though, and it's haunted," I argue. "I'm not going back."

Lucas is silent. Then he starts talking to me again, this time calmly. "Did something happen in there that you're afraid of?"

"It doesn't matter," I reply, trying to hide the fear that had engulfed me. But Lucas just stares at me expecting an answer. "It's haunted. It's the place Nick died. I saw my sister in the water, her reflection, crying on the couch, watching the Hunger Games!" I keep blabbing on about what I saw. I'd tried to forget it but I couldn't. It had made me feel like I was doomed, helpless. Everyone at home is watching me, hoping for the best but deep down they know I can't do it. Deep down I feel helpless, unable to go on. I just keep letting my emotions take over me. Why can't I be like the rest of the tributes, only one focus, live and kill? I want to win, I want to go home and I want to pretend this never happened.

"Sarah," Lucas says, "What's going on?" I must have sounded emotional when I was telling him everything.

"I'm not like the others," I reply, looking down, embarrassed. "I'm the youngest here. I'm not ready for this."

"I know, it's unfair," Lucas says. "You can't control your emotions and you think you're doomed because you're the youngest. You can do this. I'm not lying. You have killed people and been in battles. Confidence. You need confidence. That's all you need. Then you will be able to think properly, strategically. You will live."

I can't help but smile. Tears well up in my eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because, I don't want to be like the others," he replies. "I want to be myself and not let the Games change me. All I want is to die the way I should be. And yes, if it means sacrificing myself for you, then yes I will. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. After mum and dad left me I was alone, not knowing who I could trust and how to make friends. Then I met you and, and Nick. You made me the man I am today. And I don't want to change."

I nearly choke on the tears I've been holding back. I run up to him and wrap my arms around him.

"You've helped me so much," I whisper. "I don't want to leave you."

It's the nicest way of saying 'I don't want you to die' that I could think of.

"We will get far," he says, hugging me back.


	21. Back To A Nightmare

We let go of each other and start walking deeper into the rainforest. We talk and talk and sometimes even laugh. It soon becomes late afternoon and we sit down on a mossy rock. Suddenly we hear one of the game maker's voices.

"Most of you are starving and hungry. We have decided to be generous and offer you food at the Cornucopia tomorrow."

"We have to go," I say. "We'll either die of hunger or die when we're fighting for food. But if we fight for food we could still live."

"Ok, we have to try," Lucas agrees.

We rest for a bit and then get up and start walking back to the cornucopia. It will take the rest of today and most of tonight to get there if we're lucky.

"How many are left?" I ask.

"Twelve," Lucas replies.

We keep walking. Hours pass and I soon realize that we need a plan, a good one if we want to survive.

"What's our plan?" I ask, starting the subject.

"I think one of us should run when the coast is clear and grab some food then run back," Lucas says.

"The other can be ready to fight if someone comes after the runner."

"That's a really good idea," I reply. "Although, there is a downside. What if someone comes from in front to attack?"

"We can both be armed with weapons," Lucas says. "What role do you want to take?"

"I'm not sure," I say. "Running is definitely not safe, but fighting an attacker isn't very nice either. Can I think about it?"

Lucas nods. He's so supportive. I start to think of all the possible outcomes. If I run, Ruby could be waiting for me and easily attack me from any angle. She's amazing with knives. But she might not have knives. Maybe she does, I'm pretty sure I saw her holding one when she came after me. If she doesn't that would be good. Then there's the district 1 girl, Emily. She scares me and obviously wants to kill me. She pulled me into a trap. It's likely that she and Ruby haven't split up yet. They could easily kill me. But then Lucas would attack them. But he wouldn't be able to handle both of them at the same time. I'd have to fight too. The district 5 girl might want another fight too. Those fights with her were long and painful, but I survived. Then there's everyone else.

If I was the attacker I would have to fight. I don't want to fight. Especially when the stronger tributes are still alive. Maybe I should run. I'll sprint and be as quick as I possibly can. Hopefully I'll get away.

"I'll run," I say after a while.

"Just, just be careful," Lucas stutters.

His voice is wobbly. I stop and place my hand on his shoulder.

"It'll all go fine," I say reassuringly. "We've won fights before. We might end up with some injuries but we can't starve to death, can we?"

I try to keep my voice steady and show none of the emotion I actually feel. Scared, terrified, anxious, upset and heartbroken. All of these things can't even describe how I feel. I try and keep thinking positive things but it's so hard.

Lucas starts quickening his pace. It's starting to get dark and we need to get to the cornucopia by tomorrow morning.

"What weapons will we each take?" I ask. I don't want to leave everything so that we decide closer to the time. That time I will need to focus and get ready to run.

"You work best with the bow and arrow and you've had that pocket knife for ages. You've used that well. Take them," Lucas instructs me. "I'll take my sword and I have a knife too so we'll be fine."

We keep walking. It gets darker and darker until the sky is pitch black. It feels like we've been walking for a couple of hours throughout the night. We push through the pain in our legs. We have to get there. Occasionally we sit and rest but that's usually for about a minute or two. Most of my wounds have healed but the cut on my hand from Lucas still stings. I suddenly realize that he is limping. I try and figure out why.

"Lucas, why are you limping?" I ask, finally giving up of guessing.

"I sprained my ankle, it'll be fine," he replies.

I must have been so caught up in everything else that I didn't even notice. I suddenly feel very guilty.

We keep walking. It's pitch black and we have to feel our way through the rainforest.

"The trees have changed," Lucas says. "That's good. When we first entered the rainforest the trees were like this. We should be there in a couple of hours."

More walking. I feel like I've taken thousands and thousands, even millions of steps today. It's better than fighting though. Lucas tries to quicken the pace again. He's determined. I don't blame him. We really need to get food. The thought of food makes my throat feel dry. And water. I need water too. I start to get worried though. What could happen? We could be killed. I try and think of this in a positive way. Without food we would die slowly. When fighting we could die quickly, but very painfully.

Hours pass and we still aren't there. It must be just after midnight. My eyes are closing and I struggle to stay awake. I have to. When we get there we might get some sleep. That's my incentive. I start to imagine all the people back at home watching me. Lil will probably be proud. My mums friend might be proud too. It makes me realize that I should be proud. I've made it this far. And I can keep going. I'm not going to let fear stop me. I have to do whatever I can to live. To live and win. To return home to Lil, to my lovely sister Lil. I miss her. Suddenly Lucas stops and I accidentally bump into him.

"What's wrong?" I whisper.

"The trees are gone," he whispers back.

Suddenly I see something shiny. I feel the ground. I feel grass, delicate and moist.

"I think we've made it" I whisper again, full of excitement.

Lucas flings his arms around me and we jump up and down. Then we contain ourselves and hurry back into the rainforest, still keeping the cornucopia insight. We then continue our excitement. We sit down and whisper to each other.

"You should get some sleep," Lucas suggests.

I tell him to wake me when he wants to sleep. Then I curl into a ball, up against him. I close my eyes and in an instant I'm asleep.


	22. Let Go

I feel someone shake me. I open my eyes slowly and see Lucas. The sky is grey and dawn is approaching. I sit up silently.

"You didn't get any sleep," I whisper. "You should've woken me."

"You needed it," he whispers back. "It's going to be dangerous and your risking your life so you needed sleep so you could concentrate properly."

"Thank you," I whisper in gratitude.

We wait for the sun to start rising. I feel butterfly's inside my stomach. I'm nervous and scared. I look through the trees and can see massive piles of food in the distance. I try and keep calm.

"I don't know if I can do this," I whisper to Lucas.

"It will all go fine, we have to if we want to live," he whispers back.

I try and stay calm as we wait. My heart beats so fast in my chest. I swallow hard as I start to see a bright light in the distance. The sun is rising. We get to our feet and start walking closer to the open area. We make sure we have our weapons and wait for a couple of minutes before running.

"Are you ready?" Lucas says.

I nod and swallow hard. Before I can take a step out into the area Lucas grabs my free hand.

"Just be careful," he says. "I don't want to lose you."

I nod and he gives my hand a squeeze then let's go. I grab an arrow from my quiver and place it on the bow. I don't aim the bow but keep it ready beside me. I'm scared. No, not scared, terrified, but I have to do this. I sprint. Faster and faster, looking for food and drink. I look around me and a wave of relief rushes over me when I see that no one has come to attack me. I quickly open my backpack and stuff it with food and water. I constantly look around me. Behind me Lucas is crouched in the bushes looking around. Suddenly he stands and sprints. No! It was going well. Just keep focused. I keep stuffing the bag until it's full. I zip it up and fling it onto my back. I run in the direction of Lucas who is now out of sight. I sprint. I see blood. In the distance Lucas is fighting. Who? I stop running. Isn't that Niall from district 4?

Suddenly I'm pushed to the ground. I roll over to see my attacker the girl from district 2, Charlotte. She kicks me in the ribs. I groan but fight. I grab my bow and arrow which has slid underneath me. I shoot but she ducks and pounces onto me, pushing the bow out of my hands. We roll over and over. I try and keep rolling as I find my pocket knife that's inside my pocket on of my pants. She pins me to the ground and finally I see her malicious grin. She pulls a dagger from behind her, probably a pocket or something.

"No!" I yell.

I roll over and pin her down, then I make a desperate grab for the dagger. She moves it away and I punch her in the chest. She screams in pain, but I don't care. Right now I have to stay alive. I snatch the dagger from her grip and stand up. She stares at me, a look of defeat on her face. She has no weapons. Suddenly she sprints and picks up the bow and arrow. She shoots at me but I duck. I tackle her to the ground and fling the weapon out of her hand. She struggles but grabs the dagger and slices my arm. I feel the pain and the blood dripping. I snatch the dagger out of her hand and pin her to the ground. I try to strike her but she moves away. Again I try but she keeps dodging the blade. I try again and pierce her skin. She chokes up blood and in an instant she is dead.

I grab the bow and arrow and sprint towards Lucas. Niall is over the top of him holding an axe up high, ready to strike Lucas who is on the floor helpless. Blood is everywhere. I shoot an arrow straight at Niall without him realizing and he drops dead. I then run up to Lucas and kneel next to him, watching for danger. He's covered in blood.

"You have to win," he says, half choking. He squeezes my hand and then adds, "for me."

He starts to fade away and I start to cry.

"No," I whisper. "I can't go on without you."

"You can," he chokes. "You're amazing. Now get away before you die. I'll miss you."

He lets go of my hand and I stand up. "I won't forget you," I say and run. I see the district 7 boy and the district 10 tributes. The girl is dead but the boy is still fighting. I keep sprinting, into the forest, deeper and deeper. I keep running, not daring to stop. Tears stream out of my eyes. Nick's dead, Lucas's dead. I've got no one. How can I go on? I start to climb a tree but my arm stings and a can't get up. I sit down and lean against the trunk. I examine my sliced arm and sigh. I rummage through the backpack and look at the food I've gotten. Bread, apples, a watermelon, a tin of cold soup and some chicken. I've also collected three bottles of fresh water. I can win. I know I can. I'm not going to doubt myself anymore. I've gotten this far and I can get to the end.


	23. Irritated

Five canons go off.

There are seven tributes left including me. I get up and keep walking. The game makers probably think I can't win now because everyone I love in the arena is gone, but I'm going to prove them wrong. I kneel down onto the ground and run my fingers through the stick mud. I wipe my fingers across my cheeks leaving two muddy stripes on each cheek. That's better. Now they know that I'm a fighter. I rip some of the material from my trouser leg off and wrap it around my stinging arm to stop the bleeding.

I keep walking, all day. I'm lonely and more cautious. As the sky starts to darken I try and climb a tree. My arm stings but I can't spend the night down on the ground. I would be easy to kill. Finally I get up and I tie myself to the tree. I look through my bag for the loaf of bread and a drink bottle. Finally I find them and I gulp half a bottle of water. I tear of a piece of bread from the loaf and nibble it. It's delicious, much nicer than the food at our district. I want to make a really nice meal though so I grab a handful of chicken and spread it on each little bit of bread that I tear off. It's so succulent and juicy, amazing. For the first time since I've entered the arena I feel amazing. Ready to fight. Someone could come running round the corner and I wouldn't hesitate to strike them in the heart with my bow and arrows. Or even use the dagger or my pocket knife. But I can't remember whose left. The strong tributes. Suddenly I begin to regain fear. I'll find out soon when they show the faces of the dead tributes. I haven't been taking notice of it that much. They'll be trying to lure us in together soon so that we can fight and get the Hunger Games over and done with, but they'll put on a good show. I don't want to just be a minor part in their games. I'm going to win, or at least I won't go down without a fight.

The anthem begins to play and I see the tributes faces appear in the sky. There's Charlotte and Lucas from district 2, Niall from district 4 and both of the district 10 tributes. Seeing Lucas's face in the sky, knowing that he's dead makes my eyes water. We were best friends. I'll never forget him... or Nick. I've started to forget about Nick. I don't know why. I loved him so much. They're never here at my side anymore. They've gone forever. I'll never forget them though. I'll keep reminding myself of them. I start to work out whose left.

Ruby and Emily. I wonder if they've gone their separate ways. The Games are nearly finished and soon it will be the finale so it makes sense if they've ditched their alliance and left each other to fend for themselves. The district 5 girl. Wow. She's made it so far, but so have I. I can fight her. The district 7 boy, I bet he killed the district 10 tributes. He's strong. He'll be hard to fight against. They all will. Who else. I rack my brains to think of the last two tributes other than me. Oh, the district 3 tributes. They're probably working together because they're the only team and can both win.

I imagine Ruby running through the trees looking for some of the weaker tributes left. I wonder if she has any injuries. She probably has. Everyone has patches of dirt on their faces and blood stains. That's what I saw when I was grabbing the food and running off. Her pale skin covered in dirt making her skin look darker. Maybe even a bloodstained face. Golden hair all knotty. And Emily, she's so tall and strong. The district 3 girl freckles unnoticeable on her face from stains and dirt. The boy probably looks the same. Brown hair all over the place and maybe some blood on his body. The district 5 girl. Black hair tied in her ponytail up on the top of her head, revealing her stained face, covered in dirt and grime, blood too. The district 7 boy, still strong but probably dirty and covered in blood from fights. This is all in my imagination though.

I decide to look at myself. I'm so dirty, covered in dry blood and dirt. My arm is still bleeding, pus and blood flowing out of the deep gash. I try and cure my injuries as best as I can. I unwrap the piece of cloth and remove it from my hand. I quickly wrap it around the gash on my arm but it doesn't fully cover the injury. I look at the wound on my hand. The blood is dry and I can't see much. I grab one of my water bottles and gently pour small amounts of the liquid onto the slash. I gently clean it and realize how deep it is. I start to panic. What happens if I get an infection, and my arm has a similar wound? I force myself to stay calm. Maybe I can get some sponsors. Medicine to treat it. If viewers see how distraught I am I may not have as much chance getting sponsors.

I decide to move my arm around, see if I'm able to use it. As I slowly elevate it the pain comes. Such excruciating pain that I can't describe. It must be a deep gash, must of done some nerve damage. No more climbing trees. I'll have to stay on the ground.

I start to walk around, looking for somewhere to stay for the night. I would like to get some sleep but that's not an option if I can't find a good hiding place. The movement in my arm hurts so I rest it up against my body as if it's in a sling. I see a thick tree and walk over to it hoping that it may be a good hiding place. I must be lucky. Just under the tree roots is a little ditch in the ground. I can camouflage the ditch and maybe get some sleep. It depends on how well I camouflage myself. I pull very thin branches from a small tree nearby. The branches have large leaves on them. I grab as much as I can and return to the tree. I place the tree branches right next to the roots of the tree and try to separate the roots that are entwined around each other. Finally I make a small gap and I climb into the little ditch, being careful not to scrape my wounded arm. I reach out and pull the branches of leaves across to hide the opening in the roots and also hide myself. I slowly drift off to sleep.

A sound of twigs snapping and leaves crunching awakes me. I'm alert and good rested. Suddenly I

hear voices.

"So we're the only pair left," a high pitched voice says. It must be the district 3 tributes. Ellie and Daniel.

"I feel sorry for the district 12 girl," the boy says, Daniel.

"Sarah? Why?" Ellie asks.

"She's so young, she lost Nick and Lucas," Daniel says. "She's gone through a lot."

"Why does it matter?" Ellie asks. "She's a tribute, everyone goes through those things."

"Not as much as her," Daniel argues.

"So do you want to make allies with her?" Ellie snorts.

"No!" Lachlan retorts. "You have no sensitivity! You can't understand how other people may feel!"

"So you have a crush on her!?" Ellie yells.

"No!" Daniel argues. "I'm just saying that I don't want to kill her because of what she's been through!"

"It's the Hunger Games!" Ellie yells. "You have to kill people." She grabs her mace and gets ready to strike Daniel. "Our alliance stops here! I can't stand you anymore!"

She swings her mace and it hits him in the stomach. He groans and swings his sickle into her throat.

The life drains out of her as he pulls her up by her shirt and yells in her face.

"You think you're the only one who can kill people!?" He screams in her face. "I'm not stupid!" He flings her to the ground.

I stay still and wait for him to walk away. Boom goes the canon. I wait for a while, probably about fifteen minutes before I leave my little home in the ditch. I take away the leaves and push myself out of the ditch. I start walking. I don't think that the mace the girl had will do me any good so I leave it. The hovercrafts that collect the dead bodies take the weapons they have with them unless the weapons have been taken.

I walk further and further. I'm surprisingly happy. Happy that I've made it this far. I can win. I just have to fight.

At about what I estimate to be midday I sit down and lean against a thick tree trunk. I eat the rest of the chicken, the breads gone. I also eat an apple and gulp down the rest of my first bottle of water. I keep moving. I look at my hand. The gash hasn't gotten better. It looks like it's gotten worse.

Suddenly I feel my back being sliced. I fall to the ground and my eyes close.


	24. The Last Enemy

I open my eyes. My head is throbbing. I attempt to pull myself up but I'm forced back onto the ground by someone. Let this be over soon, I wish.

"I'm so sorry," I hear the person say. "I should've known it was you. I'm the boy from district 3."

"What!" I yell. "You killed your own district partner!"

"How did you know?" He asks.

"I was there," I reply.

He starts to rub my back. "Medicine," he explains. "Any other gashes?"

"My arm and hand," I reply. "Why are you helping me?"

"I don't want you to die," he says. "You're inspiring to everyone out there. You can win. I didn't mean to hurt your back and just so you know we're not allies. I'm helping you get better and that's it. There are only six of us left."

"Thanks," I reply.

He starts to rub the gooey medicine into my arm. It stings so much. I screw up my face and try not to groan. My back is hurting too, and I don't want to show Daniel that I'm an easy target. The sound of a canon startles me. Five left.

"I need to leave," he says as he stands and leaves. He forgot the medicine. I'm about to call out to him but he's gone. Then a nearby groan and another cannon. Daniel. It's the first person that comes to my mind. I stand up and look around. Where can I go? My back and arm still hurt so I can't climb. This could be the end. I hear footsteps. Closer and closer, but from where. I hide behind a tree next to me. Then he appears. The district 7 boy.

"Where are they all?" He mutters. He has knives and a sword. Lucas. He had that sword.

Help! I nearly scream it out. It's what I need. But I won't let him find me. I will go back home to Lil. Lil, who will be proud and scared watching me. Close to my death with a hopeless chance of winning.

I'll prove everyone wrong. I can win and I will win.

He looks in my direction and I move closer towards the tree, chest against the bark. He looks past and curses. What is it now? Another flood? No, it's the finale. We must move closer to each other. They need the games finished. Suddenly I don't feel the pain in my back. I turn around to face what lurks behind me.

I nearly scream, I nearly run. Animals, evil animals surround me. Snakes covered in moss, monkeys, a gorilla, black panthers, huge spiders and a jaguar. I look around at where the district 7 boy was. He's not there, so I run. I run faster and faster, away from the animals that are itching for a taste of my flesh, my blood. I don't stop, even when I see him in the distance. I run faster, closer to him, not daring to look back. When I'm close enough I grab my bow and load an arrow. I'm too late. He knows I'm here. He turns and throws a knife but keeps running. I duck, just avoiding the silver blade. I aim and shoot. Miss. It's hard to shoot when you are running. I dodge his next knife which is to my right. I shoot again. Another miss. As I reach the arrow that I just lost I bend down and stumble. Somehow I manage to roll forwards on the ground and get back onto my feet. I shoot again. It looks like it will hit him, but he ducks and grabs another knife. It comes my way, towards my leg and I leap in the air, just missing the blade. I load another arrow and shoot.

Another cannon. Not for the district 7 boy. I miss again. I'm running low on arrows so I grab the arrow I shot. I shoot again and this time he's too late. It hits his thigh and he falls. I run past him but he grabs my leg. I trip and he loses grip. His cannon goes off.

One more kill. I keep running. My legs ache, my heart beats fast, my throat is dry and I feel like stopping. But I don't. I won't give up.

Past trees into the clearing, into someone. We have collided.

"Yes!" She yells out and I know who it is Ruby. She's wanted to kill me all along.

I pull myself up. Last fight, last kill and I go home. I don't bother with weapons I run and tackle her to the ground. She rolls over and pins me to the ground.

"How does it feel when you have no one to save you?" She sneers at me. I feel helpless. I try and get up put she puts her arm across my throat so that I have no hope of moving. She pulls out one of her knives at presses it hard across my face. She doesn't press the blade into my skin yet.

"Feel honoured that you have made it this far. You don't deserve to win. You have won fights because of luck. But your luck is about to change..."

Her voice trails off as I think of Lil. The only one who I have left. The only one I must go back to. I must, I need to go back. The thought of Lil makes me even stronger. I can't get up. But I have an idea.

"Get ready for your slow miserable death!" She says as she starts to dig the blade into my cheek. Now is the time. I spit in her face and she yells in fury. She has slipped with the knife, which has caused it to dig deeper into my skin but I have to forget about it. She has become distracted so I kick her off of me and stand. I try and pull the knife out of her hand but she doesn't let go. I pull her up and smash her against the side of the cornucopia.

"Everyone underestimated me!" I yell in her face. "Including you! I am not some wimpy child! I am a survivor, a fighter!"

I pull the knife out of her grip and that's the moment that she pushes me off of her. She dives on top of me and even though I am caught by surprise I put my feet out in time and kick her over behind me. She falls onto the ground and I quickly get up and stomp one foot down on her stomach to keep her down. Now is the moment. I look down at her face which is full of fear. She scratches my leg but has no weapons.

"I'm sorry Ruby," I whisper as I force the knife down into her chest. Her cannon goes off. I fall to the ground in agony after the traumatising experience I have just gone through. Flashbacks of Nick and Lucas come running through my mind. I don't hide the tears that stream down my cheeks.

_"I love you," he said. I blushed and told him I loved him too. I wished that we would always be together. In training he brought to me a great friend, Lucas. A caring boy who despite the fact that he was a career tribute he was a kind boy. _

The tears come flooding out as a curl in a ball and close my eyes. Trying to forget the experience. It feels as though their voices are in my head talking to me.

_I will always be in your heart. Don't forget me._

I won't forget either of them. I hear the hovercraft above me and slowly get up off of the floor wiping the tears from my cheeks. I climb the ladder up into the hovercraft and am congratulated by Danielle and Dale. I appreciate their support but all I want is to see Lil, to hold her in my arms and be told everything will be okay. I am taken back to the Capitol, but I don't remember anything after that. My mind is flooded with memories of the past few weeks. All I remember is returning home to my district and seeing Lil rush up to me. I ran into her arms and she held me tight. I cried making her clothing on her shoulder damp, but she didn't care, she was just glad I was safe.


End file.
